Alcohol 'more harmful than heroin or crack'

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Alcohol is the most dangerous drug in the UK by a considerable margin, beating heroin and crack cocaine into second and third place, according to an authoritative study published today which will reopen calls for the drugs classification system to be scrapped and a concerted campaign launched against drink.

Led by the sacked government drugs adviser David Nutt with colleagues from the breakaway Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, the study says that if drugs were classified on the basis of the harm they do, alcohol would be class A, alongside heroin and crack cocaine.

Today's paper, published by the respected Lancet medical journal, will be seen as a challenge to the government to take on the fraught issue of the relative harms of legal and illegal drugs, which proved politically damaging to Labour.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/01/alcohol-more-harmful-than-heroin-crack

[Skittles]

1. what if you do all of them

and throw in a hooker

[Blasphemer]

12. You get paid $2 million dollars an episode... nt

[Skittles]

14. he is absolutely disgusting

I've never seen that show because I long ago stopped seeing ANYTHING he is in (same with Mel Gibson) because of his sheer ugliness

[renate]

16. me too

Ick. Just, ick.

The kid is the only good part of that show... or, he WAS the only good part, when we quit watching a couple of years ago. I feel so bad for Martin Sheen. Seeing what his son has become must absolutely break his heart.

[Moonbat2]

21. thats a good weekend

[Skip Intro]

2. oh, they have an agenda...

nt

[Warpy]

3. Alcohol makes drinkers overconfident, disinhibited, and belligerent

Drinkers usually have no idea just how impaired they are, the buzz makes them feel WONDERFUL, on top of the world, able to do anything, just getaddamyway. In small amounts, it casts a rosy glow over any boring social gathering. In larger amounts, it's deadly.

The only drug I can think of that's likely worse is meth.

[boppers]

4. "if drugs were classified on the basis of the harm they do"

How does a cheeseburger classify, then?

[Tunkamerica]

6. And I wonder the classification if all the drugs were done by similar

numbers of people. Lots of people drink, there and here, but would the rankings be the same if the same number of people were all doing coke? All those coked up people walking around, talking too loud and thinking every word that came out of their mouths was gold.

[U4ikLefty]

8. You mean I've been coked up all this time?

That explians a lot.

[Fumesucker]

32. "talking too loud and thinking every word that came out of their mouths was gold"...

Sounds *just* like a drunk to me..

[Emillereid]

17. Throw away the bun - and it's good for you!

[tavalon]

23. Well, except for those prions

but we don't look for those in US beef, therefore, what we don't look for isn't there. Neato, Skeeto, eh?

[HEyHEY]

5. SHit, we've known that for years in Vancouver

Any cop will tell you they pick up more bodies from alcoholics than junkies.

[kestrel91316]

7. I'm sipping a glass of TJ's 2-Buck Chuck shiraz while reading this.

Heh.

[boppers]

9. See, your habit has already led you to desperation.

:evilgrin:

I'm sipping a PBR, so don't worry, you have a while to go before you hit bottom.

[kestrel91316]

34. Yeah, I splurged and bought 3 bottles of the stuff yesterday. First

wine I've treated myself to in nearly 4 months, maybe 6 now that I think about it.

[Pharaoh]

10. The World would explode

If they took away all the drugs.......

[Incognitus Czar]

11. More dangerous you say?

oh welp, time to legalize heroin and crack then!

[ronnie624]

13. Health Benefits of Alcohol

The Benefits of Moderate Alcohol Consumption

Although some studies suggest that red wine offers additional health-protective effects due to its high antioxidant content, the benefits listed below can be obtained by drinking any type of alcohol in moderation.

* Dementia: A French study found that people who drank daily in moderation were less likely to develop dementia than nondrinkers and those who only had one drink each week.
* Gallstones: Some studies have suggested that those who drink moderately cut their risk of developing gallstones by about 50%.
* Heart health: Moderate drinking reduces the risk of both heart disease and death by heart attack; studies have found variable risk reduction rates, ranging from 25% (various studies) to 40% (Nurses’ Health Study-a longitudinal study of 85,709 nurses).
* Ischemic stroke: Moderate drinkers have a 70% reduced risk for ischemic strokes, a leading cause of disability and death. However, heavy drinking increases the risk of suffering ischemic strokes.
* Type 2 diabetes: There are some indications that moderate drinking may reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes; however, consuming large quantities of alcohol actually increases the risk for this condition.
* Vascular benefits: Numerous studies suggest a 25% to 40% risk reduction for peripheral vascular disease in moderate drinkers.
* General health: A national (U.S.) study found that moderate drinkers are more likely to get enough sleep each night, exercise regularly and be at a healthy weight than nondrinkers and heavy drinkers.

<http://www.suite101.com/content/health-benefits-of-alcohol-a48358>

[Granny M]

18. Moderation is the key word there.

I could not do moderation. Abstaining one day at a time has improved my life and my health immensely. But that's me. Others can moderately drink, and that's fine with me.

[eridani]

20. Geneticially, that's true of about 15% of the population

Just about everyone else can do moderation. I'd drink more often if it didn't go so poorly with Metformin.

[shanti]

47. doesn't stop my sister

she's on metformin too, but is still a heavy drinker despite her diabetes diagnosis. she doesn't care :(

[ronnie624]

37. True.

I think it's safe to say, however, that no amount of crack or heroin offers any real health benefits. Those two drugs are probably far more addictive than alcohol to a greater percentage of the population as well. Imagine if as many people who consume alcohol, consumed heroin or crack on a daily basis.

[ender]

48. That's great that you've made that choice.

It should be noted, that the abstinence only approach has a horrific failure rate, and not a single one of them will talk about their success rate, which hovers around 12%.

With the health system overhaul, treatment centers will have to apply "evidence based" approaches in order to get paid. The evidence is that while the worst problem drinkers are best served with an abstinent approach, the majority should be approached with harm-reduction measures, including medications to replace or make the substance much less pleasant. Using a harm-reduction approach will also reach more people, as the rigidity of 12 step programs, and abstinence being the only cure turns far more people away than it helps. Especially with that wonderful 12% success rate.

I'm sure that AA and MADD will be up in arms about using science to figure out the best approach to these diseases, instead of their shrill religious-like indoctrination, but its time that we used medical approaches that have evidence behind them to treat addictions.

and if you're wondering, while i'm not the addictions expert, i do enable the data collection behind finding these evidence based approaches, and am close to the people analyzing this data.

[farmboxer]

15. Wall Street Prescription Drugs are the most dangerous of all!

Doctors selling them like candy! So many die every year!

[No Elephants]

19. tobacco?

[truthisfreedom]

24. Yeah, I was wondering that too. Smoke free since Sept 1 2010.

[No Elephants]

27. Congrats. I stopped after I got very, very ill.

[ronnie624]

33. Same here.

I smoked for 30 years. Now, six years after quitting, I work out daily, and have the lung capacity of a teenager. I'm still amazed that I actually quit.

[Le Taz Hot]

35. Woo hoo!

Congrats to you. I quit almost 7 years ago after 35 years so I know exactly how hard that is/was.

[madrchsod]

31. good point-just as dangerous and additive

[tavalon]

22. We really need a "Duh" forum

This is merely late breaking "Duh"!

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. "Led by the sacked government drugs adviser David Nutt "

there has got to be a good back story to this.

[greiner3]

26. Can someone paraphrase this article for me;

I can't see too well; another hangover.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. This worries me: "In England, most people drink once a week or less"

That's a quote from a 'Department of Health spokesperson'. Now, either 95% of the people I know are drinking more often than the median, which would worry me in that it makes my family, friends and colleagues seem bizarrely unrepresentative (and representations of people's lives in fiction are also unrealistic); or the Department of Health spokesperson can't actually give out a simple statement without screwing something up - such as saying 'drink' when they mean 'drink more than the recommended limit' (and, judging by the comments for the article, several other people feel this is a wrong statement as well).

Either way, there appears to be something wrong. I'll see if I can dig up some stats.

[madrchsod]

29. i`ve dealt with my friends and family and all three are the same

the problem with alcohol is that it is legal , accessible, and acceptable.

[Odin2005]

30. I think this is a genetic thing, some populations are more tolerant to alcohol than others.

I've read that Western Eurasian populations (who invented beer) have a mutant form of the Alcohol Dehydrogenase enzyme that makes the processing of alcohol faster and more efficient.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

36. use or addiction? also is it number 1 because its widely available

i wonder what the study controlled for

[ensho]

38. true

Alcohol has ruined more families then any other drug

killed more people on the road then any other drug

and its effects can be passed on to the fetus in the womb

[razorman]

39. Of course, I use all three for medicinal purposes only

[Ter]

40. Moderation is the key

You can drink in moderation, but can you do crack or heroin in moderation?

[DLine]

41. Put down the bottle...

... and pick up a bong. It's better for you and society. :)

[Raster]

42. Drug experts say alcohol worse than crack or heroin

Source: Reuters

LONDON — Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than both crack and heroin when the combined harms to the user and to others are assessed, British scientists said Monday.

Presenting a new scale of drug harm that rates the damage to users themselves and to wider society, the scientists rated alcohol the most harmful overall and almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco.

According to the scale, devised by a group of scientists including Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and an expert adviser to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), heroin and crack cocaine rank as the second and third most harmful drugs.

Ecstasy is only an eighth as harmful as alcohol, according to the scientists' analysis.

Read more: http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20101101/NEWS-US-DRUGS-ALCOHOL/

[elocs]

43. This was LBN yesterday morning:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4595452

[HereSince1628]

44. Dupe

And generally speaking cost per unit of population allow comparisons that aren't biased by one intoxicant being more widely used than another. Total costs are sure to bias the result toward the most commonly used agent.

Western healthcare folks hate alcohol although it is the cheapest fastest acting sedative available to most of the western world. But then, being the cheapest, fast acting sedative and being available OVER THE COUNTER may be exactly what the makers of lorazapram, etc, REALLY HATE!

Prescription and non-prescription drugs can be misused. But prescription drugs generate many more revenue streams.

[Drale]

45. I can see this

maybe not from a physical point, but usually people drink in public with alot of people around, and alot of drug users are usually anti -social. I've seen a bunch of alcohol induced fights, but never seen one caused by crack of heroin.

[slackmaster]

50. It makes sense if you are willing to ignore theraputic index and addiction potential

And if you've never actually dealt with someone who is addicted to heroin.

[Nihil]

53. It makes even more sense if you read the article.

> Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than both crack and heroin
> when the combined harms to the user and to others are assessed
>
> Presenting a new scale of drug harm that rates the damage to users
> themselves and to wider society ...

:eyes:

[felix_numinous]

46. In America though

We classify alcohol with coffee, cigarettes and batter. Basic 4.

[KillCapitalism]

49. Alcohol bad?

Shoot, I thought marijuana was supposed to be the most evil drug around. :sarcasm:

[AlphaCentauri]

51. wonder if the people who made the study have an heroin and crack cocaine

addict family member

[Nihil]

54. Wonder if the people commenting on the "addict family member" side have read the article?

(It doesn't sound like it so far.)

[BlueIris]

52. WOW. No WAY. That is such NEW information!!

Fucking drug users.